Shaving instrument



A r l 7, 1936. y

W. G. VIALL ET AL SHAVING INSTRUMENT Filed Jan. 24, 1934 1 3 304 Z? W w\ I 'ao 30 so |NVENTOR5 v WILL/AM 6. V/ALL Z a HARRyJWM K w 1% 30" ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 7, 1936 PATENT OFFICE I 2,036,557 SHAVING INSTRUMENT William G. VialLBloomfleld, N. 1., and. Harry A. Rankow, Bronx, N. Y.

- Application January 2'4, 1934, Serial No. 708,016

missurn 2 Claims. (or. 30-43) The present invention relates to shaving instruments and more specifically to devices which obviate the necessity of employing hair softeners or the like.

An important feature of the invention resides in the provision of a shaving instrument formed with a handle and having a hollow shell provided with a series of tapered blades and a reciprocating cutter having teeth adapted to contact the inner faces of the blades.

Another object of the invention is in the provision of means to at all times retainintimate yet slidable engagement between the stationary blades of the shell and the reciprocating teeth of the cutter.

A further object is to provide a shaving instrument having a handle-portion provided with resilient means to removably retain a shaving head.

Further features are the particular prong means to effect removable union between the handle and shaving head; the resiliently mounted ball means in the shell to afford frictionless pressure against the reciprocating cutter; the, novel reciprocating means to provide a greater period of 5 time for the hair to assume a position between the cutter teeth; and ashelf supporting, open ended shell forruggedness and easy cleaning.

These and other objects of the invention and the means for their attainment will be more apparent from the following detailed description,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, illustrating one embodiment by which the invention may be realized, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial side elevational and partial sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the invention, the handle being broken away.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational'view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view as seen from the right of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view as taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show various positions of the cutter teeth in relation to the shell blades, and

Figs. 8 and 9 show, in plan, preferred forms of 45 eccentric and slot means for reciprocating the cutter.

In the present disclosure, the instrument comprises a handle I 0 of suitable size and form to be conveniently grasped in one hand. It is pref- 0 erably formed of two halves secured together as at I I and may be designed to house a motor (not shown) to drive the shaft I2. The shaft I2, may of course, be driven by a flexible shaft from a motor remotely placed or in any other desirable 55 manner.

The handle is formed with a seat I3 which may be curved as shown and is preferably provided with sockets I4 opening in the seat. Transverse spring members I5 pass from side to side of the handle and intercept the periphery of the sockets 5 v I4. Recesses- I5 communicate with the sockets and surround the portions of the spring members which lie within the sockets.

The shaving head I! comprises essentially a shell I8 and a cutter I9. The shell is preferably 10 formed as an elongated, hollow, triangularly shaped, hardened steel member, the sides of which are preferably convexly bowed, joining in an apex as at 20. One side 2I is slotted to provide a series of equally spaced tapered blades 22 i5 and as shown in Fig. 2, these blades may be formed with their outer surfaces flattened as at 23. The other side 24 of the shell may also be slotted in a manner quite similar to that of the side 2 I.

The base leg 25 of the shell may preferably be 20 somewhat thicker than the other legs which are preferably increasingly thickened from the apex downward. As can readily be seen, a sturdy, selfsupporting shell having well supported shear blades 22 is in this manner provided. 25

The base leg 25 of the shell ll is apertured at 26 to admit the upper reduced portion 21 of the drive shaft I2 and a pair of spaced prongs 28, each provided with a circumferential groove 29 engageable by the springs I5 when entered into 30 the sockets I4, is fixed to project from the base leg of the shell.

The cutter I9 is preferably L-shaped and one leg is formed with a series of spaced teeth 30 having parallel sides and it is preferred that these 3 teeth be increasingly thicker as they approach the horizontal leg 3| of the cutter. This leg is preferably straight in both dimensions and is provided on its under face with a slot 32 engageable by an eccentric 33 on the drive shaft.

To insure intimate contact between the cutter teeth 30 and the shear blades 22, the shell is provided with means to afford resilient pressure against the cutter. In the present form this comprisesa pair of balls 34 urged against the cutter .by a leaf spring 35.

Since the inner faces of the shear blades 22 and the outer faces of the cutter teeth 30 preferably have the same curvature, and since the leg 3I of the cutter and the base leg 25 of the shell are spaced from each other, there is no other contact between the cutter and shell except between the cutting blades and the shear teeth. The leaf spring 35 being designed to transmit, through the balls 34, a proper compression against the cut- W and the spaces therebetween /2W.

ter, the cutter is thus mounted to be easily and smoothly reciprocate-d within the hoilow of 7 the shell.

As previously stated, it is preferred that the shear blades'2l be tapered and the cutter blades 30, rectangular, so that upon reciprocation of the cutter a slicing action is obtained therebetween.

. The hair cutting is afforded at or near the thinnest part" of the shell and. at this point it is preferred that the shear blades be proportioned in the following manner: With special reference to Fig. 5, the shear blades 22 are made of a width For the sake of clarity in description, the cutter teeth in this figure are indicated at 30 30 and Ill. It has been determined that the best cutting resuits are obtainedwhen one of the cutter teeth is moved from an aligned position with one of the shear blades to an aligned position with either adjacent shear blade; Figs. 5 and 7 illustrate these two extreme positions of thecutter teeth. To accomplish this the amount of eccentricity of the eccentric Ills equal to %.W as shown in Fig. 8. I

Fig. 6, illustrates the position of the gutter teeth at the instant of shearing when moving in one direction and the broken lines indicate the cutter teeth in the shearing position, when moving in the other direction.

The reciprocating movement of the cutter being imparted by an eccentric, the cutter moves relatively fast (about 3400 R. P. M.) there is not sufliciens time for the hair to assume a proper cutting position and in this instance, the slot 32 of the cutter is. widened to an amount equal to C and the eccentricity of the eccentric made to equal /4W-l- C. Now there will be two periods of momentary rest of the cutter when itsteeth are aligned with the shear blades. The above is desirable, due to the difllculty in constructing a slow speed motor capable of being'housed within the handle II. J

It is now readily apparent that 'a shaving instrument has been provided which, for the purpose intended, is c. considerable improvement over said shell being convexlybowed, arid tworof said :walls being increasingly thickenedfrorh their common apex to afford rigidity to the shell, a cutter having teeth reciprocally 'movable within It is understood that the feathe shell, said shear blades and cutter teeth hav- 1 ing a shearing engagement, a handle, and means to'removably secure the shell in the handle. I

2.'A shaving instrument comprising an elongated, lrollow, polygonal shell having shear blades in one wall thereof, at least one of the walls on said shell being convexly bowed, and twe of said gjwalls beingincreasingly thickened from, their common apex to aflford rigidity to the shell, a cutter having teeth reciprocally movable within the shell, said shear blades and cutter teeth having a shearing engagement, said cutter being substantially L-shaped a handle, and means to removably secure the shellin the handle.

. WILLIAM G. VIALL.

:HARRY A. marrow. 7'

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